1. Don’t believe your thoughts!
Until you have listened carefully to yourself, identified and owned your shortfalls, your unhelpful patterns, your victimhood, the lies you tell yourself to protect your fragile sense of self, then your thoughts are not a reliable source of information.
This self-exploration takes time and patience and is often best done with another, trusted, person.
It’s unrealistic to expect to unveil ourselves quickly because actually the defences we have carried around with us for most of our lives have been serving a purpose and it would not be helpful to rip them all down in one go.
So patiently look into the mirror of your life and discover the truth about yourself… if you support yourself in this process with kindness and compassion, with regular affirmation and forgiveness of yourself, the nature of your thoughts will alter and slowly begin to reflect the truth more and more.
We call this ‘looking at yourself with kind eyes’.
2. Believing is seeing…
Most of us find it quite straightforward to believe something when we have the evidence about its existence… if we can see it, hear it or feel it our doubt or uncertainty is dispelled.
It’s more challenging however to believe in something when we have not yet been presented with any ‘evidence’ that that thing is possible or exists. This is where faith is necessary.
If we are to harness the energy of the universe and mould it in our lives in alignment with our deepest wishes and desires, we need to learn the art of believing first… and then in time we will come to see.
Start by defining what it is you really want… this may take a little time and quiet reflection.
Then, using your mind’s eye, practise seeing that ‘thing’ as part of your reality… see the detail of how you want your life to look and to feel. Be specific – the more noble your wishes the better – those desires that not only benefit you but benefit others and the wider world will most readily help you on your own journey.
Whatever the heart and mind focuses on with sincerity, the universe conspires to create.
3. The mind is a living, breathing organism…
It needs attention, care, nurture, good nutrition (a diet of uplifting and positive thoughts as well as the right balance of physical nutrients) and clear guidance if we are to experience the many wonders it is capable of delivering.
There is nothing more powerful on earth than the human mind… but are we harnessing its immense and subtle energy, this most precious of our resources, in the best way? Or are we simply leaving it to its own devices, taking no responsibility for what takes place in our internal world?
The mind is not a static entity… if we pay little attention to its activities that doesn’t mean it remains the same. It is forever changing … if we don’t practice using our mind’s energy in uplifting and positive ways it will take its own course – which at best will offer up a mixed bag of experiences and at worst will be a negative prison cell, stifling our personal growth.
The more you think the ‘right’ thoughts, act in accordance with your humanity and conscience, and treat others as you want to be treated, the more you build a myriad of neuronal pathways and connections in the brain that guarantee to make it easier to find positive and creative solutions to life’s challenges.
Try and make your mind a kind and peaceful place. Listen to beautiful music, read inspirational material, surround yourself with healthy relationships, try and make your environment reflect back the peace and clarity you seek. Then your mind will more readily move in a better direction.
4. Be careful what you wish for…
We need to be very clear about what we want to appear in our lives – hence the expression ‘be careful what you wish for’. Far too often we focus on what we don’t want, but the metaphysical laws tell us that focusing on something, anything, magnifies and strengthens that thing in our lives.
This means when we focus our minds in a particular direction, whether using images or thoughts, the energy of the universe reverberates back to us a perfect echo of the signal we have sent out. So we need to be very focused and accurate about the messages we send out in order to influence the ones that find their way back to us.
Our ability to shape the energies around us is much greater than most of us think and pure intentions and a sincere heart can liberate us from our deepest fears.
So give up the habit of focusing your attention on those things that you don’t want, those things that are not going well for you, and liberate your mind – direct it towards those things you have dreamt about. Invite the expansion of what you actually want… and see what happens.
Remember, a mind full of gratitude has no room for complaint and the grateful mind creates wonders.
5. The primary purpose of the conscious mind is to help decide the course of your life…
But the reality is that most of our behaviour is actually driven by the unconscious mind, that part of our consciousness that houses vast quantities of memory, our experiences… but which is largely inaccessible to us, unless we make the effort to establish a relationship with it.
We think we are in charge but really our histories, our hurts and wounds, our sense of inadequacy, our habits and patterns are just churning out well-practiced responses… unless or until we decide to use our conscious minds to alter the shape of these patterns and thus alter the shape of our lives.
Practise being still often and you’ll be able to watch and hear the internal conversations that are driving your life. ‘Listening-in’ is the foundation of any change you can bring to bear because until you hear and understand those ‘voices’ you will find yourself doing their bidding without even realising that you are.
So listening-in is the beautiful practice of asking your heart to reveal its secrets to you. You will begin to notice what blocks and limits you, the patterns that are unhelpful and prevent growth.
Awareness is the platform on which positive change can be built.
6. Detoxify your mind…
We are so busy detoxifying our bodies that we forget to detoxify the mind. Yet it’s becoming more and more apparent that many of our diseases and afflictions begin in the mind.
One of Reach’s primary tenets is that the removal of waste is the secret to health, and this principle does not merely apply to our bodies.
The negativity we carry around with us in our minds is just as capable of poisoning us and laying the foundation for every disease known to humanity.
We can either drown in our waste and negative thoughts or decide that from now on we will start engineering uplifting thought patterns, patterns around gratitude and forgiveness, letting go and moving on.
Begin with how you think about yourself. Think kind thoughts about yourself every day… it would help to focus on the many qualities, talents and abilities that simply haven’t been exploited, as you have been so busy finding fault with yourself.
Think kind thoughts about others too – wish those you know and also those you don’t know, well on their journeys through life.
Really understand that the more you complain the more you will find to complain about. Negativity, resentment, unhelpful criticism, lack of forgiveness, all these mood states poison the mind.
There are numerous disciplines that are illuminating the power of thoughts and intentions and their impact on our minds, bodies, relationships and environments.
Take a closer look at:
The secret to health really is the removal of waste
7. Understanding actually means to take action…
We don’t truly ‘know’ something until we are behaving in alignment with that knowledge. Personal transformation and positive change are not possible simply because we understand. What we know, by itself, will never free us – it’s what we do that counts!
Doing what needs to be done comes from the power of realisation. Knowing is to have the information within your grasp and therefore the possibility of change, whereas realisation is to understand the deep significance of that information and to apply its meaning to your own life.
So to know means very little but to realise means everything.
8. In order to really know, we have to surrender what we think we know
The theme of this tip sheet is about changing the way you think and as we have been saying, if you are holding onto your old perspectives, your old patterns, your habits and ways of understanding yourself and the world, you can’t change.
You have to let go of those aspects of your own ideology that are flawed, that block your growth, because nothing changes unless something changes.
To create something better out of your current position you have to be prepared to accept you might have got this all wrong. Until you begin to view things with that humility, you’ll find yourself fanatically holding onto points of view that belong to another time and place.
Humility opens the doors to the unknown, the unexpected and even the divine. It allows us to see the most beautiful aspects of ourselves and with that we have a different view of the world around us. We can then more clearly see what is worth holding onto and what is best released into the ether.
Humility ensures that we don’t just hold onto things because of our ego and our need to be right. It’s such a liberating quality and elevates our minds in ways that often defy explanation.
Try being more humble and you’ll discover a whole new altitude of consciousness.
9. Make this your self-talk regularly
…and watch the limitations you put upon yourself begin to loosen their grip on your life…
“I am more than has manifested in my life up to this point…. In fact my life up to this point has really been preparing me for this realisation…. that is, I have an unlimited reservoir of potential in me waiting to be tapped…
I’m not afraid to believe in the impossible as I’m coming to understand that I’m always standing at the door of infinite possibility… it is simply waiting for me to find the courage to step through that door.
And today I do just that… I imagine the life that I most want to lead… I imagine the opportunities that lift me up beyond where I am standing right now… I can clearly see the relationships that strengthen and support me in my endeavours… they’re such beautiful mirrors of love and kindness… and I am grateful for that.
All the things in my physical space act as agents of change… everywhere I look I see the unimaginable becoming real… I’m no longer limited by fear, doubt, my mistakes, the past, as I grow into my own greatness. It’s so liberating… blissful… wonderful… I am free.”
Regularly allow your mind to flow in this way and it will eventually become second nature to believe that you are capable of incredible transformation… you are the alchemist, who changes the non-precious to the precious… the magician who performs wonders… and the conductor facilitating a marvellous symphony.
Also see: Body Wise 2